Printing press



Sept 18, 1928.

W. F. LUCK PRINTING PRESS :s sheets-sheet Filed Jan. 17, 1925 Sept. 1s, 1928.4 I 1,684,592 y w. F. I -UcK PRINTING PRESS Filed Jan. 1'7, 1925 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 FIG. 5.

#Waff/wr W. F. LUCK PRINTING PRESS sept. 18, 192s. l 1,684,592

Filed Jan. 17, 1925 5 sheets-smet 3 FIGS Patented Sept. 18, 1928.

UNITED STATESl PATENT OFFICE.

WILLIAM F. LUCK, 0F PORTLAND, OREGON, .ASSIGNOR, BY MESNE ASSIGNMENTS, T0 FRANCIS W. CHAUSSE, OF SALEM, OREGOIT.`

PRINTING Heiss.

Application led January This invention relates generally to the art of printing, and particularly to printing on metal foil, such as aluminum, etc., in two or more colors. 1

The first ob'ect of my invent-ion is to provide a relatively simple and inexpensive press for printing o-n a web of metal foil.

The second object is to so construct the press that a succession of colors may' be accurately printed upon a web without changing its position.

The third object is to provide a special form of web feed whereby the pull on the web can be adjusted with a great degree of accuracy.

The fourth object is to provide means for embossing the foil as it enters th-e press and to include change gearing adapted to drive the embossing rolls at a constant speed equal to the average speed at which the web passes through the press.

The fifth object is to provide a movable cutting attachment whereby the point at which the web is cut can be readily varied.

The sixth object is to include a special form The seventh object is to so construct the i printing rollers that they may be readily freed from their driving mechanism and left free to rotate, to facilitate work on the printing plates.

I accomplish these results in the manner set forth in the following specification and illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which:

` Figure 1 is a side elevation of the press. Figure 2 is a diagrammatic'lay-out of the inking mechanism. Figure 3 is a plan of the press. Figure 4 is a transverse section taken along the line 4-4 in Figure 1 and cuttmg through the printing and inking mechanism. Figure 5 is a` transverse section taken along the line 5-5 in Figure 1 cutting through the web pulling or feeding mechanism. Figure 6 is a transverse section taken along the line 6-6 in Figure 1 showing the cutting mechanism. Figures 7, 8, 9 and 10 are diagrammatic views of the printing plate rollers showing, in order, the position of the rolls at.

17, 1925. .Serial N0. 3,031.

Figure 11 is a sectionl through the end of a printing plate carrying roller showing the sprmg-urged mechanism for indexing and releasmg the rollers o-n their driving shafts.

Only such parts are shown as actually enter into my invention.

Similar numbers of reference refer to the same parts throughout the several views.

, Referring in detail to the drawings, in order to illustrate the press in the simplest form I have shown a pair of side frames 20 which are held in their proper relation by the cross ties 21. Transversely across the y frames 20 is journaled a drive shaft 22, whose bed 31 which forms the impression surface A of the press. Along each side of the bed 31 is secured a V-shaped track 32 on which roll the grooved wheels 33 which are mounted on the shafts 35. Between eac-h pair of wheels 33 and mounted on the shaft 35 .are the rolls 36, on which the printing plates 37 are secured in anyconvenient number.

It will be understood that while only two rolls 36 are illustrated, that three or more may be employed by increasing the diameter ofthe rolls sufficiently to permit the proper applic-ation of the ink to the foil.

' Hung onthe ends of the shaft 35 are the printing carriage frames 38, whose lower edge carries the rolls 39 which engage the yunder side of t-he track 4() on the side frames 20. -The rollers 39 preventthe'printing carriage lfrom raising and reducing the amount of impression.

On the shaft 35 outside-of the wheel 33 are placed the gears 41 whose pitch circles are exactly the same diameter as the printing face of the printing plates or rollers 37. The gears 41 mesh with the rack 42, whose pitch line is at exactly the height of the foil being printed. The spring-urged pin 43 is employed to prevent the rolls 36 from rotating on their shafts, when this is not desired, but to permit them to be quickly released, as may be desired when working on the plates.

A connecting rod 44 joins the upper ends of each arm 28 to the shaft- 35 on the printing roller 51 is a fountain roller 52 whose foun-.

tain 53 is common in the art. Below the rollers 51 and 52 are placed the arms 54, which support the yswinging roller 55, whose function it is to .carry ink from the fountain roller 52 to the roller 51. The arms 54 are provided with upright extensions 56, and a s erin@ 57 'oins each extension 56 to asimilar member on a like but opposite arm.

Across the frames 38 is placed a rocking shaft 58, on one end of which is placed the gear 59. This gear is driven by the pinion on the shaft 61 whose gear 62 meshes with the gear 63 on the shaft of the ink roller 48. rlhe shaft- 61 carries the arms (S1-A which, in turn, carry the rollers 46, 47 and 48. The gear 62 also meshes with the gear 41 and is driven thereby.

A crank 65 on. the shaft 58 is, provided with two pairs of connecting rods 66 and 67, on which we shall consider only one pair to facilitate the description. The rod 67 is connected through the ratchet pawl (not shown) to the inking fountain roller 52 by passing same loosely through the arm 68, and has a spring 69 secured on the rod 67 by means of the nut 70.

The rod 66 passes loosely through the arm 54 and carries a spring 71, which is secured by the nut 72. It is evident that any rock ing of the crank 65 will cause the fountain roller 52 to rotate slowly, and the roller 55 to swing back and forth, first touching the fountain roller 52 and then the small roller 51. Since the fountain roller is ratchet driven and the rolls 51 are power driven, it may be seen that the rolls 55 will be rotated first by contact with one and then the other roller above mentioned.

rfhe longitudinal cam shaft 7 3 is driven by the bevel gears 734-A on the shafts 73 and 74, the latter of which carries the crank gears 75 which mesh with the large gears 24. The

crank gears 75 are provided with slots 76 which adjustably carry the connecting rods 77 which are joined to the feed arm 78 by means of the pin 79. The arm 78 fulcrums on the pin 80 which is mounted on a stationary support.

On the frames 20 above the gears 75 are mounted two bar slides 81, at each end of which are placed the standards 82 across whose upper ends is hinged a rod track 83. On the bars 81 are slidably placed the slides 84 between which is secured the feed clamp bar 85. On each slide 84` is formed'a standard 86 which supports the shaft 87, which,l

in turn, is joined to the upper end of the feed arms 78 by the connecting rods 88.

Secured to the shaft 87 is a roller-carrying arm 89, whose grooved roller 89-A rides on the track 83. On the shaft 87 are also secured a plurality of clamping jaws 90. Foil 91can' pass freely under thejaws 90 when they are raised, but are securely held thereby when the jaws are depressed. On the rod track 83 is mounted a rocker arm 92 through which is loosely passed a plunger 93, which is joined at its lower end to a lever 94 mounted on the bearing 95.

A roller 96 on the lever 94 rides on the cam 97 on the shaft 73. A spring 98 on the plunger 93 is held in place upon the arm 92 by the nut 99. The spring 100 urges the roller 897A downwardly. It is evident that the rotation of the cam 97 will cause the jaws 90 to grip the foil 91 and that the rotation of the crank 75 will cause the jaws to move longitudinally with thel press, drawing the foil with it, until the jaws are again opened by the'cam 97.

On an end of the press outside of the pulling or feeding mechanism is placed a cutting mechanism. This consists of a frame 101 from whose base 102 depends a standard 103 to which is hinged an arm 104 whose roller 105 rides-on the cam 106 on the shaft 73. u

A connecting rod 107 is joined at its upper end to the hinged lever 107-A, whose link 108 is attached to the sliding knife 109. A spring 110 is placed against the under side of the collar 111 on the connecting rod 107, for the purpose of raising the knife 109. The standing shear is formed in the base 102.

The parts numbered from 101 to 111 inclusive are movable longitudinally to permit the knife 109 to be brought to the desired point on the web when cutting.

0n the opposite end of the press is mounted an embossing mechanism which consists of a soft roll 112 which is mounted on a hinged frame 112-A, which is provided with a compression spring 113. An'embossing roll 114, which can be engaged by the soft roll 112 is mounted on the shaft 115, which is driven by the .gear 116 from'the change gear 117,

which, in turn, is driven by the bevel gears 118 and 119 from the shaft 120.

Foil in roll form is mounted on the standards 121 from which it is drawn by the embossing rolls 112 and 114.

The operation of the press is as follows:`

Supposing that some two color work was .desired, the first operation would be to thread the end of the foil through the press from the embossing rolls to the cutting mechanism. It is assumed that one of the ink fountains has been supplied with red ink and the other fountain has been supplied with blue ink, and the press run to secure the desired amount 0f distribution. The jaws 90 are now adjusted so that they will grip the foil in one direction, and the' printing operation is ready to begin.

Turning now to Figures 7 to 10 it will be observed that in Figure 10 the printing plates have just received a fresh supply of ink from the rolls 46. It will be borne in mind that a foil 91 is now resting quietly on the bed of the press. Further travel of the printing carriage causes the plate which I have marked B, and which carries the blue ink,to make an impression on the foil, as shown in Figure 7. In Figure 8 neither of the plates are touching the foil, but in Figure 9 the second plate, which I shall designate as R and which carries the red ink, makes its impression in exactly the same place as it was made by the plate 13, thereby providing a perfect register. y

Continuing the cycle to Figure 10 it will be observed that the plates are now being supplied with a. fresh quantity of ink from the rolls 46. It must be understood that the inking of each of the plates occurs at each extreme position of travel, thereby greatly simplifying the problem of supplying ink to the plates in suflicient quantities when much4 ink is required by the plates.

.To restate the operation. lVhen the printling carriage moves in one direction, the blue is applied to the form first and the red last, but in reversing the operation, or in retur ing the printing carriage to its original position, the red is applied .first and the blue `last.` Since this actually constitutes two operations, it is evident that unless the foil is moved there will be a. double impression each time. Therefore the crank is speeded up so that a pull on the foil is accomplished two times for every cycle of the press.

While in the drawings there is illustrated only a small plate, this is done for the express purpose of explaining the operation; whereas in practice, the plate may occupy a major portion of the circumference of the printing roll. This enables the 'multiple production o f a label, both in the width and in the length.

Since almumin'um does not lend itself to cutting'with the usual form of paper knife, in practice it is found desirable to print the foil with a paper backing, which maybev applied in the form of a waxed paperand run through heated rolls to cause. saine l'to adhere to the foil. lThese rolls are notshown on the drawings. l' l In Figure 1 I have illustrated the foil as forming alsa'g or loop between the embossing rollsfand the' printing surface. The advantage in this is to permit a constant or uniform rate of withdrawal of the foil from its big roll, and at the same time to permit the foil which is undergoing the printing operation to move 'ntermittently Since tlie rate offeeding of thel embossing 5 rolls is controlled entirely by the change gears, it can be seen that an almost infinite v variety of changes would be required to meetthe demands of the foil wrapper trade.

It is therefore preferable to select the necessary change gears, which will cause the foil to be fed out at a rate appropriate to the feed of the press, or the average speed at which the foil is run across theprinting surface. Should these speeds vary, it is evident that the sag in the foil would soon be taken up, o r an excess of sag would accumulate; in either event causing 'a tear in the web and an accompanying loss in time and material.

1t is to obviate this bad effect that there is provided an adjustment on the crank gears 7 5 which enables the pressman to make the embossing roll feed and the pull on the web exactly equal at the end of a given time.

I am aware that many forms of printing presses have been constructed in the past.v

I therefore do not claim such devices broadly, but `I do intend to cover all such forms and modifications as fall fairly within the appended claims. i

I claim: "f

lll)

l. A web-pulling mechanism consisting of a bar slidably and transversely placed across a web; a shaft mounted on said bar; a plurality of clamping jaws on said shaft opposite said bar; a hinged track alongside of said slidable bar;.an arm on said jaw-carrying shaft having a roller mounted thereon ridingl cylindrical printing plates'fonsaid carriage. over said bed; a crank on saidcframe; an arm yon said` framejactuated byv said crank and adapted to reciprocate said carriage; a second crank rotating at'twice the rspeed of said .first crank; a pulling device'for said web actuated by said second crank; and a cut-off lun mechanism beyond the end of said pulling mechanism adapted to be moved longisaid web between impressions while said carriage is in either of its extreme positions.

3. A printing press having, in combination, a stationary impression surface; a plurality of curved printing plates arranged to roll over said impression surface in a manner that each plate will' register its color in the same place; a web-feeding device adapted to pull a web of foil across said impression surface eve-ry time saidplates complete their travel in either direction without moving said web between its engagement with the various plates duringtheir travel in one direction.

4.` A printing press having. in combination, a stationary impression surface; a plurality of spaced cylindrical printing plates arranged tudinally along said press in a manner to cut i to roll over said surface in a manner to register their several impressions accurately in the same place over said impression surface7 a'll of said impressions registering before the Work is disturbed; a Web-pulling mechanism adapted to pull a web through said press whenever said plates change their direction of travel; and a knife arranged to cut said web between impressions during the printing operation.

5. A printing press having, in combination, a stationary impression surface; a plurality of cylindrical printing plates arranged tol roll over said surface in spaced relation; a Web-pulling clamp on said press arranged to pull said Web intermittently when said plates change their direction of travel; inking rollers moving with said cylinders adapted to ink each plate at the completion of an impression; and a continuous feed embossing roll adapted to deliver embossed foil in Web form to said printing mechanism.

6. A printing press having, in combination,

a stationary impression surface; a plurality of cylindrical plates adapted to roll over said impression surface; a continuous feed embossing roll adapted to deliver embossed foil to said impression surface; a Web-pulling means arranged to pull said Web over said impression surface after each complete impression by all of said plates; and a knife arranged to cut said web during the printing operation.

7. A method of printing on embossed Webbed foil consistingof progressivelymoving `the foil feeding said embossed foil in sagged form to a printing mechanism; holding said web stationary While said sag is accumulating; printing various colors successively on said foil While stationary prior to disturbing same; pulling said WebI through said press when one complete series of impressions is made theron; and then cutting said Web during said printing operation.

WILLIAM F. LUCK. 

